Will and Jenkins on Larry Summers

Last week Larry Summers, the president of Harvard asked some sensible questions about the relatively small number of women in tenured scientific and engineering positions at Harvard. Among the many columns that resulted, here are two that I like.

First, from George Will Addressing a conference on the supposedly insufficient numbers of women in tenured positions in university science departments, he suggested that perhaps part of the explanation might be innate -- genetically based -- gender differences in cognition. He thought he was speaking in a place that encourages uncircumscribed intellectual explorations. He was not. He was on a university campus.

Second, and better Sally Jenkins, sports reporter for the WaPo gets off to a great start:
Sportscaster Larry Merchant once took a date to a Philadelphia Eagles game. As the couple sat in the stands waiting for the game to begin on a beautiful fall afternoon, the Eagles ran on the field, in their dazzling green and white uniforms. His date regarded the players as they jogged through their pregame exercises in unison.

"Dandelions," she said.

"No, Love, the Eagles and the Steelers," he said..

That’s the lead. She goes on with some sensible and on-target remarks. Take a look.